Technical Field
The invention relates to the interaction of wireless devices with other devices. More particularly, the invention relates to a protocol for interaction between wireless devices and other devices.
Description of the Background Art
Handheld, wireless devices are now more than just mobile telephones and MP3 players. Apple's iPhone and smart phones employing Google's Android are examples of state of the art handheld and/or portable devices that provide functionality not even dreamt of just a few years ago. In this connection, Apple's mobile operating system, iOS, includes a feature, AirPrint, that allows printing between handheld devices, such as Apple's iPhone, and a printer. To print, an iOS device, such as an iPad or iPhone, broadcasts an IPP message using Apple's service discovery protocol, Bonjour, with a message requesting that all printers which support a new universal format, e.g. AirPrint, respond. Note that this message is ignored by all printers to date with the exception of a new HP printer designed specifically for this type of printing. Printers responding to this request are then listed in the iOS user interface as a possible selection for the user. When the user selects a specific printer, the iOS device then opens a connection to the selected printer and submits the print job using the IPP protocol.
The broadcast request does not pass across routers to different subnets. Thus, iOS printing is limited to printers that are present on the subnet on which the iOS device is connected. iOS interaction with networked devices according to the state of the art is therefore limited to printing, to a printer that is specifically enabled to operate with a particular protocol, i.e. iOS AirPrint, on a local subnet. As such, the state of the art provides only minimal interaction between such wireless devices and printers, and provides no interaction with other devices.
It would be advantageous to provide a protocol that allowed wireless devices and other similar devices to interact with any other devices.